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Label:This vase was presented to New York City District Attorney Hugh Maxwell (1787-1873) by merchants grateful for his prosecution of corrupt directors of the New York Stock Exchange. Charged with this commission, retailer Baldwin Gardiner secretly contacted Philadelphia silversmith Thomas Fletcher: "None of the silversmiths here know that I have the order, as several of them would drop the hammer for me if they knew that I sent to Philad[elphia]." Fletcher responded with one of the largest and most spectacular statements of the Classical Revival style in American silver.

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